Hamilton 1 - 2 Kilmarnock: Late comeback for Lee Clark’s men

EWING GRAHAME

Hamilton’s home record continues to infuriate their long-suffering fans. This latest defeat means they have won only one of their last 16 Premiership fixtures at New Douglas Park.

Many pundits had tipped these clubs to fill the bottom two places before a ball had been kicked and, on this evidence, it was easy to see why. Kilmarnock, in particular, look as ragged and disjointed as one might expect after transplanting a dozen inexperienced youngsters from down south into their squad.

Even so, one of the few familiar faces, Kris Boyd, ought to have given them the lead in the sixth minute. Six yards out and on the end of a cutback from Martin Smith, he ballooned the ball over the bar.

Hamilton enjoyed the bulk of possession and finally took the lead in the 26th minute.

Ali Crawford could have driven a bus through the Miles Addison-sized hole in Killie’s back four; instead, he lofted a pass to Alex D’Acol, whose netbound drive was blocked by Steven Smith.

Hamilton dominated for the next 43 minutes but spurned a series of openings and those misses came back to haunt them when Kilmarnock conjured a goal out of nothing.

Jordan Jones was the architect, jinking to the by-line before chipping the ball to the far post, where Boyd headed home.

Three minutes later substitute Souleymane Coulibaly, pictured, scored a sensational winner. Greg Taylor’s clearance was seized upon by the Ivorian, who worked his way into the penalty area before unleashing an unsaveable shot high past Remi Matthews.

Kilmarnock manager Lee Clark possessed the loudest voice in the main stand as he served a touchline ban. “It was torture but I’ll sit in the stand every week if that’s the result,” he said.

His Hamilton counterpart, Martin Canning, was simply baffled. “Good performances should bring results and we played well for most of this game,” he claimed.